After consecutive losses to No. 7 Tennessee and No. 11 Gonzaga, Syracuse men’s basketball takes on Chaminade to close out its Maui Invitational slate. The Orange (3-2, 0-0 in ACC) are facing a Silverswords (1-3) squad that has lost by a combined 55 points in the tournament.
SU has played in Maui before but it ended in much more success. The ‘Cuse has won the Maui Invitational in its past 3 appearances in the tournament. Now, the Orange face the reality of going winless in this year’s edition.
SU has been struggling with consistency as it didn’t outscore the Volunteers and Bulldogs in a single half. This is something that guard J.J. Starling acknowledged after the loss to Gonzaga.
“Our biggest thing is putting it together for 40 minutes, not just the first half or second half,” said Starling. The Notre Dame transfer is averaging just over 12 points per game but is shooting a dismal 8.3% from beyond the arc. If the Orange want to score more points, Starling becoming more of an adept shooter from three is a solution.
However, a matchup with Chaminade should prove to be much easier on offense. The Silverswords have let up more than 70 points in both of their Maui contests. The Orange have topped that total in each of their three wins this season.
This season, Syracuse head coach Adrian Autry has decided to switch things up on defense and run more man compared to years past under the leadership of Jim Boeheim. While this change has been incorporated, it was the zone defense that was primarily used against the Bulldogs rather than man. Gonzaga head coach Mark Few noticed this and took advantage of it.
“SU played zone a lot. It opened up at the high post,” said Few. “We work on floaters a lot. I felt like it was easy buckets for us.”
Against a Chaminade squad that’s been held under 60 points in both of its contests in the Maui Invitational, it could be expected that the Cuse will run different looks on defense to try and throw off the Silverswords.
Another interesting storyline heading into the matchup against Chaminade is the status of SU forward Benny Williams. When Autry was asked about the absence of Williams, what was not said was more important than what was.
“No comment on Benny,” said Autry. “Just no comment.”
Williams was suspended before the season started for violating team rules, which caused him to miss the first two games of the regular season. However, he came off the bench against Colgate and then had eight points in 16 minutes against Tennessee. It is yet to be determined whether the junior will get minutes against Chaminade.
The answer to this question and the fix to the Orange’s problems could be figured out in short order. Tipoff between SU and Chaminade is set for Wednesday at 9:30 p.m. WAER’s coverage starts with McClurg Remodeling Countdown to Tipoff at 9:00 p.m.